New guidance counselor works to help students navigate high school

New guidance counselor Denise Brienze is excited to support students throughout their high school experience and help them create a post-secondary plan.

Before joining ARHS, Brienze worked at Milford High School as a long-term guidance counselor substitute and spent the last six years at Blackstone-Millville Regional High School as a guidance counselor. One reason Brienze decided to transition to Algonquin was due to the school’s size and resources.

“I like working in a bigger school because I think that comes with more opportunities that we can offer students and more ways to connect with the community,” Brienze said. “The idea of being in a bigger school was definitely appealing and I know how successful students have been at Algonquin; I was excited to be a part of that and be able to work with students to continue that same success.”

Another motivating factor was the welcoming atmosphere of students and faculty alike at ARHS.

“

[Brienze] is calm, approachable, thoughtful and eager to help students. We are excited to have her as part of our team, and we are also looking forward to getting to know her more and working with her.

— Head of Guidance Lisa Connery

“I had students sit in on my interview and even when I met with the counselors initially, everybody was genuinely kind and welcoming,” Brienze said. “I love how so many of the students are genuinely happy to be here, and I appreciate the respectfulness they show in all areas when they either reach out to me or have conversations with me.”

According to Brienze, who works with students from all four grades, her transition to Algonquin during the middle of the school year went smoothly.

“As hard as it is to leave a job and start a new one mid school year, I think for me the transition has gone as good as I’d hoped it would be and I’m excited to learn more and get to know more people at Algonquin,” Brienze said. “I really like Algonquin so far; the other guidance counselors are great, it’s a very strong department and the students are super friendly.”

Head of Guidance Lisa Connery believes Brienze is a valuable asset to the Guidance department.

“She is calm, approachable, thoughtful and eager to help students,” Connery said. “We are excited to have her as part of our team, and we are also looking forward to getting to know her more and working with her.”

Brienze hopes to impact her students’ lives in a similar way to her own high school experience.

“I really like feeling that I have the ability to make a difference,” Brienze said. “I had a really impactful guidance counselor when I was in high school and it’s something I still remember to this day, so I’m grateful to be in this position where I have the ability to impact other student’s lives.”

According to Brienze, adjusting to Algonquin’s policies and procedures has been a challenge, but she feels supported by her department.

“There are a lot of things that I don’t know yet and that I’m still learning,” Brienze said. “Even though I’m not new to being a counselor, I am new to Algonquin so picking up on how Algonquin does things and their policies and procedures will continue to be a challenge, but there are people here that have been really helpful and that I know I can ask questions to help with that stuff as it comes up.”

Connecting with and supporting her students is one of Brienze’s top priorities.

“My goal for this school year is to form relationships with as many students as I can,” Brienze said. “I know it can be challenging for students when they have a transition in a guidance counselor because they feel like they have to re-get to know that person, but I want to form those relationships and be a source of support for students.”

Connery encourages Brienze’s students to reach out to her for anything that they need.

“If they have any concerns that they should feel free and comfortable to come down and talk to her, whatever it might be, academic or personal concerns,” Connery said. “They should feel comfortable to check in with her, request an appointment or just talk; she comes to us with a few years experience so she is ready to help.”

When Brienze isn’t at school, she enjoys watching Boston sports, learning and speaking Spanish, reading and going to Cape Cod during the summer.

“Outside of school and work, it’s important to me, and I echo this to my students, to find ways to spend your time that allow you to decompress and set boundaries between work and personal life,” Brienze said. “So, I want to make sure I’m practicing the same advice that I give to my students.”

According to Brienze, each work day is different and she values the variance.

“I like the uniqueness of each day, and being able to have that mindset going in of ‘sometimes you don’t know what to expect’ and having conversations with different students and having the opportunity to know them and form those relationships is probably my favorite part of the job,” Brienze said.

Brienze is thankful to be a part of the ARHS community and looks forward to the rest of the year.

“I’m excited to meet with the rest of my students and additionally we [guidance counselors] are getting ready for the junior workshops that are coming up, which is always a new and exciting process,” Brienze said. “I also love the post-secondary planning process and working with students until they figure out what they are doing after high school; it’s pretty rewarding.”